For a few decades
now, They Might Be Giants' album Flood
has been a beacon (or at least a nightlight) for people who might rather read
than rock out, who care more about science fiction than Slayer, who are more
often called clever than cool. Neither the band's hip origins in the Lower East
Side scene nor Flood's platinum
certification can cover up the record's singular importance at the geek fringes
of culture.

Flood’s
significance to this audiencehelps
us understand a certain way of being: it shows that geek identity doesn’t
depend on references to Hobbits or Spock ears, but can instead be a set of
creative and interpretive practices marked by playful excess—a flood of ideas.

The album also clarifies
an historical moment. The brainy sort of kids who listened to They Might Be
Giants saw their own cultural options grow explosively during the late 1980s
and early 1990s amid the early tech boom and America’s advancing leftist social
tides. Whether or not it was the band's intention, Flood's jubilant proclamation of an identity unconcerned with
coolness found an ideal audience at an ideal turning point. This book tells the
story.

S. Alexander Reed,
PhD is a professor and musician. He currently teaches at Ithaca College and is
author of Assimilate: A Critical History
of Industrial Music.

Philip Sandifer,
PhD publishes and blogs about the psychic history of comics and science
fiction. He is the author of TARDIS
Eruditorum.